Updating Humpty Dumpty Research

WASHINGTON — As little as we consumers might think about it, it has been a ''long, hard way'' from the henhouse to the grocery shelf where eggs can be bought by the dozen.

Along the way, they may be packed, unpacked, repacked; stacked, unstacked, restacked; conveyed and trucked; washed, candled, weighed, sorted.

The eggs, that is, not the consumers.

Some supermarket customers may feel they've been packed, stacked, etc., too, but that is another story. Right now we're talking about hen fruit.

With all the stacking, packing, trucking, candling, etc., eggs undergo, and considering their fragile nature, it is a wonder no more than 7 percent get broken. Even that small amount is too many for the Agricultural Research Service. As it points out in its latest publication, ''Broken eggs mean lost profit for the egg industry and higher prices for the consumer.'' Which certainly is something to think about.

Also food for thought is the observation that most modern egg-handling equipment ''is covered or otherwise out of sight,'' making it difficult ''to pinpoint where breakage occurs.''

It no longer is necessary, however, to hire human droppers to determine how much stress eggs can withstand. That task now is handled electronically.

What is more, the research service says the ''plastic egg-shaped instrument'' that radios information ''about the forces being exerted against the shells of real eggs'' has been redesigned.

The new Humpty Dumpty rides through the handling equipment and transmits data that ''allow operators to locate places where egg breakage is likely to occur.'' That is good news indeed for supermarket customers, for it indicates a possibility of electronically determining their own breaking point.

Technicians ''broke 300 real eggs'' to calibrate the plastic model. ''They found that the minimum force required to break eggshells was roughly equivalent to dropping an egg onto a hard surface from a half-inch height,'' the article says.

''To locate points of possible egg breakage, the operator interprets peaks and valleys printed on the chart during the egg's journey,'' it adds.

Most supermarket customers are tough eggs. They could be dropped at least a foot onto a hard surface without breaking anything, including their feet and the contents of grocery bags.

This is not to suggest, however, that they are not subjected to impact forces as they make their way up and down the aisles, past the shelves where the eggs are on sale. If dropped from a peak into a valley, for instance, they surely would break.

Such forces as the impact of grocery carts, being jostled by other shoppers and waiting in the ''express'' lane while other consumers cash checks also need to be measured.

Determining the breaking point of egg buyers could be even more important than research on the breakability of eggshells.